Opposites Attract
by Rebel-Angel-Hero
Summary: Davin was a lonely girl who pushed people away. Hiccup was a misfit who got pushed away by other people. Chance would bring them together, but will things stay that way? AU, HiccupXOC. Rated T for language.
1. An Unwelcome Arrival

Chapter One: An (Un)Welcome Arrival

Davin huffed angrily as she stared out the window of her new bedroom. It was bare- uncomfortably so- since she hadn't really bothered to unpack her stuff in the two days she'd been in Berk, but it wasn't like she really cared.

Berk. Her mother's small, insular, _boring_ hometown. When her mom had told her that they'd be moving to the backwater town once the divorce was finalized, Davin had thrown a fit. Not only had her parents ruined her life by splitting in a bitter, chaotic divorce, but now they were forcing her to move away from all of her friends, the house she'd lived in her whole life, the city she knew- everything that had mattered to her and brought a semblance of normalcy to her messed-up life. She'd screamed and railed, saying she wouldn't move, but unfortunately- as she knew from her friends' parents' divorces- when a married couple split as spectacularly as her parents had, the kid's opinion was rarely taken into account.

"Davin!" her mother called from downstairs. Davin sighed heavily and slid off her bed, thumping down the stairs- making her perpetually bad mood pointedly obvious- in her torn-up, floppy jeans and black-with-a-butterfly-pattern shirt. When she reached the bottom of the staircase, she plodded into the kitchen where her mother was waiting.

Putting the two together, it was quite obvious which parent Davin looked most like. Although there were elements of her father in her- her nose, her eyesight, her mule-headed stubbornness- when Davin stood next to a picture of her mother when she was young, most thought that the picture _was_ of Davin.

Her daughter's foul mood not lost on her, Mirabelle McLaughlin mentally prepared herself for the fight that would inevitably happen during the course of the conversation. Her curly black hair, so similar to her daughter's, was pulled back out of the way, making her harried and lined face more visible. Mirabelle wasn't old, but the past three years had taken a definite toll on her, something that Davin, when she bothered to admit it to herself, often noticed and felt guilty about- a thought that swam into Davin's head, making her think twice about her intention to start an argument for argument's sake.

"Yeah, Mom?" Davin said, trying to keep the impatience out of her voice. Her green eyes, hidden as usual behind the necessary glasses, seemed to Mirabelle to be as tired as the woman felt.

"Dinner's ready," Mirabelle told her. The two black-haired women settled themselves at the table, about as just-unpacked and unadorned as Davin's room (and the rest of the house). For the first few minutes they ate in silence, the only sounds being the clicking and clacking of the silverware on the plates.

"So, have you unpacked anything yet?" Mirabelle asked.

"Not really," Davin said dispassionately. "Just haven't really been in the mood."

"Well, you'll have to unpack your school things," Mirabelle told her. "You start tomorrow."

Davin dropped her fork, looking at her mom incredulously. "I thought we were going to give me a week to get used to Berk."

"You don't really need a week, honey. You've been here once or twice, and it isn't hard to get your way around- Berk's not that big a town."

"So? I only know the way to the high school and to the farmer's market. And the last time I was here was that summer vacation when I was six and got the stomach flu halfway through the trip. I barely went anywhere."

"It's perfect timing, though, Davin. Tomorrow is the first day back after winter break, so you won't be coming in mid-semester or anything."

"That doesn't matter, Mom!" Davin exclaimed. "I can't believe you didn't even tell me!"

"I didn't think it needed discussing, hon-"

"God, this always happens!" the girl yelled. "You two decide everything about my life and ask my permission _after_ it's done!" She stood up from the table and stomped to the staircase.

"Where are you going?" Mirabelle called.

"To my room!" Davin yelled back. "Or did you already decide _that_ for me, too?"

Once the angry thumping had subsided, Mirabelle dropped her head into her hands, rubbing her temples wearily. She flinched at the audible door slam.

Davin fell back on to her bed with a whoosh, balling up her fists. It wasn't that she minded going to school the next day. It was the fact that her mother had made the decision without asking her that made her angry. She rolled over onto her side, curling up into a ball as she stared at her blank, unwelcoming wall.

* * *

**Well, originally I had this scene planned out that she was _arriving_ in Berk, hence the title. But I couldn't come up with a better title. So. There.**

**Well, after a little break (in which I was working on HELL ON EARTH a.k.a. my Chemistry final project), I banged this out today. Like literally, fifteen minutes ago. Altogether, I wrote this chapter in about twenty minutes. So forty minutes round trip. :D Hope you like this, the idea was bouncing around in my head earlier today, and I'd wanted to do a story like this (HTTYD AU in modern times with my OC) ever since I read _Principles and Elements_ by Grim Revolution. So. There. (Why do I keep saying that?)**

**So! As always, please please PLEASE read and review! I love to hear from you guys! And I know you're tired of hearing me say that! But it's true! So read/review! DO IT! ^^; Please?**

**~Rebel-Angel-Hero**


	2. The New Kid on the Block

**So I'm not really going with a standard chapter length on this particular story like I did with _I'd Rather Be Different_ (my MTR fanfic, read it if you haven't!). Right now the chapters are working out to be kind of short (that seems to happen to me a lot D: ) but that could change. I'm just kind of rolling with it.**

* * *

Chapter Two: The New Kid on the Block

The uncomfortable lack of conversation was noticed by both members of the McLaughlin household the next morning. Davin, looking about as miffed as the night before, nonetheless had her messenger bag slung on across her shoulder, dressed in a black T-shirt with a butterfly pattern, a thin, fitted jacket, and skinny jeans covered from the knee down by her buckled-up black boots. Mirabelle drove Davin to the high school, neither gathering up enough courage to break the tense silence. Once they reached the school and Davin got out, Mirabelle leaned over and said quickly, "Have a good day, honey." Davin hesitated for a second, then nodded and gave a small wave as she turned and made her way to the entrance.

As soon as she entered the stream of kids filing by, it was painfully clear how much she didn't fit in. Her outfit was starkly different than the department-store-template clothes that most of the other girls wore, and her attitude, which at the moment blared "don't bother me," warded off any who might have potentially approached her. She could be immediately marked as a "new kid," which dissuaded many more. As such, she made it to her first class undisturbed.

Of course, she shouldn't have expected that to hold all day. Once the bell starting class rang and everyone was settled, her "new kid" status was immediately noticed by the teacher.

"Class, we have a new student this semester," she said, and Davin swore in her head. "Would you please stand up and introduce yourself, dear? Just your name and a little bit about yourself."

Davin reluctantly got to her feet. "I'm Davin McLaughlin, I lived on the East Coast until my mom moved me out here, I like Chinese food, chocolate, and jazz music, and that's about it," she said quickly, sitting back down as soon as possible. She heard a few whispers and snickers in the back of the class, but didn't grace the offenders with even a glance.

"Well, thank you, Davin," the teacher said, a little off-put by Davin's short-and-sweet speech. Thankfully, she moved on with the class.

Davin could almost feel the stares pointed at the back of her head- ranging from curiosity to interest to dislike- and the larger-than-normal amount of attention almost made her short, black hair curl even further than its messy, loose corkscrews. She hated having everyone looking her. Even at her old school, where she'd at least had friends, she'd never been one to step into the spotlight. She sunk a little in her seat, as if it would make people notice her less.

Most of the rest of the day passed in much the same way, a fact that drove Davin up the wall. Although she recognized that some had genuine interest in her, she had no intention with tying many roots down in Berk- after all, once her two years left were up and she graduated from high school, the first thing she'd do after getting her diploma was pack up and leave- and so didn't feel much like making much more than cursory friendships. She knew that it was partially her anger and bitterness with her parents' divorce that was fueling this decision, but regardless, she didn't much care for Berk, especially since her move here had been forced.

There was one incident that stood out to her in particular. At lunch, she'd sat alone as she'd expected, eating her lunch in silence and solitude. She'd noticed that while most kids sat in groups- even if it was just a pair- there was one kid who seemed to be in the same boat as her. His auburn red-brown hair flopped into his face as he bent over a sketchbook, green eyes staring at his drawing intently. She respected that artistic spirit, though for the same reasons that she didn't try to become friends with anyone else, she didn't reach out to him, despite the fact that she sympathized with his detached state so similar to hers. A growing feeling of guilt- for not reaching out to him, when he was (despite his absorption in his work) quite obviously lonely- grew in her stomach, and she tried to drown it with a now-tasteless sandwich.

* * *

Playing along with her mother, Davin allowed herself to be blindfolded and dragged along to the driveway in front of their house. She'd felt bad about their fight the other day, and since her mother had seemed so excited, she didn't have the heart- or the spite- to refuse. When the blindfold was removed, however, her eyes went wide in surprise. Before her sat a blue original Mini Cooper- the exact kind of car she'd been begging her parents for ever since her sixteenth birthday.

"Mom, you didn't!" she squealed, running over to the car. Mirabelle smiled. "Well, I heard you bugging me and your father about it so much that I figured you might want one," she said, the exaggeration of her statement obvious. "We've been saving the money for a while." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the keys. "There is one condition," she warned.

"There's always a catch," Davin sighed.

"I'll pay for the insurance, but you'll have to find a way to pay for the gas. I'll foot the bill for a while until you can get a job, but I'd suggest you start job-hunting soon."

"Okay! Thanks, Mom!" Davin said, throwing her arms around her mother in a tight hug.

Both enjoyed the rare happy moment, and the lack of yelling or discontent was not lost on either.

"You're welcome, dear," Mirabelle responded, patting her daughter's head. "I'm glad you like it."

* * *

**Soes. I think you all know who the lonely little brown-haired kid is. :D He'll come back in the next chapter or so, don't worry.**

**Well, chapter two. I hope y'all like this story as much as I do. It'll get good, I promise. And you will be seeing Toothless soon enough! :D**

**As always, READ AND REVIEW! PLEASE! Unless you guys review or some such, I have no idea if you like this story or if anyone's even reading it. Drop me a line! PLEASE!**

**Love y'all!**

**~Rebel-Angel-Hero**


	3. Unexpected Encounters

**I'm coming to the realization that the first two chapters are really kind of ineffectual and unnecessary. To be honest, all you need to know is that Davin's parents had a spectacularly complicated and unpleasant divorce and that after the split, Davin's mother, Mirabelle, moved her to Berk, Mirabelle's hometown. And that Davin is most definitely _not_ happy about the whole situation. And that she has a Mini Cooper. That'll become important. So. I'm hoping this is where things will start to get good. And that the chapters will start getting longer, because I hate stories with ridiculously short chapters like mine are (yes, that means _you_, James Patterson). Enough rambling on my part! On with the story!**

**Oh, by the way, cause I'm a West Coast girl and have yet to set a story in this state, Berk is in Oregon, near the coast. It's in the mountains, though, cause I love the mountains too!**

**Now I'm really done. Onward ho!**

* * *

Chapter Three: Unexpected Encounters

Davin sat behind the counter of the local bookshop, bored to death. As a way to pay for the gas for her new car, she'd taken a job working at Berk's only bookshop (the next nearest one was ten miles down the road in Cape Lookout), but there was never much business. Of course, there was enough to keep the store afloat, but today it was practically a dead zone, there were so few customers. She just sat at her chair (thankfully provided for her), reading a book that she had no real interest in, and waited for the telltale bell on the door to ring.

Almost if she'd summoned a customer by the thought, the bell did chime as the door opened. Breathing a sigh of relief, Davin looked up. "How can I help you?" she said automatically before she saw who it was.

It was the same kid she'd seen at lunch on her first day (and, actually, every day since then in the two weeks she'd been in school), the lonely brown-haired one who was always bent over his sketchbook. She saw a flash of recognition in his leaf-green eyes, but that was probably because she stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the kids of their small high school (no, really, in total there was probably about five hundred kids at the school).

"Yeah, I'm looking for a book," he began.

"Well, you've come to the right place," she said, not without a note of sarcasm. "Which one?"

"_The Dragon Book_," he said. "Not _The Dragon Manual_, that's a load of crap. But I checked and I was pretty sure there was a copy of _The Dragon Book_ here."

She raised an eyebrow at his unique choice. Dragons were most definitely _not_ a popular topic in Berk, not since the devastating dragon attack thirty years ago that had left the town half-destroyed and scarred deeply. Mirabelle had been about Davin's age when the attack occurred; luckily, none of her family was killed. Not everyone had been so fortunate.

She looked through the records and found that the store did indeed have one copy of _The Dragon Book_. She pointed him to the right section and then, once he had moved away, studied him. She still didn't know his name, but he seemed vaguely familiar- probably she'd seen him on one of her infrequent childhood trips to Berk. He was small- skinny and kind of short- unlike a lot of the boys at the school, who somehow all seemed to be enormous and beefy without much that could be called wit. He, however, had an intelligence and curiosity that had been plain to see in his eyes; she'd also seen a jumble of emotions- resentment, rebelliousness, shame, and loneliness- that made her somewhat uncomfortable, if only because it was so similar to how she felt. She jolted herself back to reality when he returned to the counter with the book, his search successful. As she rang up his order, she felt him studying her much as she had him only a few minutes before. The unusual amount of attention from someone other than her family was disconcerting.

"You're new here?" he asked, but it was more of a statement. She looked up, then gave a short nod.

"I'm Hiccup," he said, and she sighed a little inside. Either he hadn't gotten the unsaid hint that she didn't want conversation, or he was deliberately ignoring it and continuing anyways.

"My name's Davin," she responded a little curtly, trying to make the hint less implicit this time.

"I know," he said, and the way he spoke- confident and without arrogance or insecurity, simply asking a question or stating what he already knew- both infuriated and interested her. "I'm in a couple of your classes."

"So what, are you stalking me or something?"

"No. Just observant. I also noticed you sit alone at lunch."

"Well, I like to be left alone," she said pointedly, not bothering with subtlety anymore. "That's $12.99." She tapped the book.

He paid the money without comment, she gave him his change, and he left with his purchase. As the door closed behind him, she felt the same feeling of knowing guilt- from when she'd first seen him, sitting alone at lunch- for being so rude.

"It's not like you plan on being here longer than you have to," she muttered to herself. "It doesn't matter either way."

But still, something inside told her that it _did_ matter, or at least that it _would_.

* * *

Ever since their…well, _interesting_ conversation in the bookshop, Davin couldn't help but be interested in Hiccup Haddock. After going home from work that day, she'd asked her mother about the boy and learned that he was the only child of the widowed police chief, Stoick Haddock, who, while he had the same auburn-brown hair, was pretty much in almost every way the antithesis of the boy. That knowledge had in some ways explained the rebelliousness she'd sensed in him- after all, if _she_ was the kid of the police chief with no other parent to turn to, she'd probably be raising as much hell as she could- though she hadn't heard of much of a reputation for _causing_ trouble, only that it seemed to be attracted to him like flies to honey.

She tried not to stare or look at him too much for fear of seeming weird or, worse, interested, especially after he'd caught her watching him. He'd just raised an eyebrow, making her hurriedly return to her food. After that, she'd become a lot more subtle about it. She was good at subtle.

However, on this particular day, it wasn't Hiccup that interrupted her lunch, but rather his idiot of a cousin, Snotlout Jorgenson, just as brawny, thick-headed, and filled with bravado as many of the boys in Berk were. As usual, he was accompanied by his dueling cronies, the ever-fighting twins Tuffnut and Ruffnut Thorston. Davin was eating her sandwich when she heard someone come up behind her. She turned around and, seeing who it was, dismissively turned back to her lunch.

"Hey, new girl," Snotlout said. "Do you just not like people? It doesn't hurt to be nice some of the time."

"Maybe I'd rather be mean because I want to keep away idiots like you," Davin responded in a deadpan. "Now bug off."

"You got a problem?" Ruffnut asked menacingly. "Maybe we should take care of that attitude."

"Oh, grow up, Thorston," Davin said exasperatedly. "Just because you've never even been looked at cross-eyed by a guy doesn't mean that you have to take out your troubles on the rest of us."

"You little bitch, say that to my face!"

Davin got up and turned around to face the three of them, the look on her face a cold, no-nonsense one. With the amount of heel on her boot, it pushed her height up to about even with Snotlout, a detail that he noticed and that made him a little nervous. "Do you want to make this a fight?" she asked, her voice low so that only they could hear her. "Cause I'd be glad to take this outside."

"Your odds don't look so good," Snotlout said, looking at his two minions.

"Bring it," she shot back, her voice almost a whisper.

"Is there a problem here?" They turned around (and Davin looked past them) to see one of the teachers there, obviously knowing that it was about to turn into a fight. Davin looked at the three of them meaningfully, then said, "No, ma'am, there's no problem." With that, she gathered up her lunch and walked out of the cafeteria, the stares of students who had stopped eating to watch the exchange following her out.

* * *

Davin always parked her car a little ways away from the school parking lot- preferring to beat the traffic and walk than be stuck waiting for five minutes for a crappy parking space- a decision that she'd regret that day. When she reached her little blue Cooper, Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut stood by it. Her face twisting into a scowl, she continued towards her car without stopping, muttering, "This is going to ruin my whole day."

"You wanted a fight, new girl," Snotlout called. "Here it is."

"Huh," was all she said.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," she said casually. "I just didn't think you'd actually have the balls to go through with it."

"You can talk now," Ruffnut jeered. "Let's see if you'll be whistling the same tune when you're missing a few teeth and crawling home to mama."

"Yeah, I don't plan on losing any teeth, so y'all better get your crying out now so you don't look like sissies afterwards."

"I don't think you're very good at math," Snotlout told her, an arrogant smirk on his face. "There's the three of us against just you."

"It isn't just her," a voice called from behind Davin. She whirled around to find Hiccup standing there.

"This isn't your fight, Hiccup," she hissed. "I don't need your help."

"You heard her, cous," Snotlout said, taking a step closer. "Stay out of this."

"No," Hiccup said, coming to stand beside her. "I don't care if you don't want my help. I'm tired of them picking on people."

"This isn't them picking on me, Hiccup," Davin told him, annoyed. "This is three idiots starting a useless fight."

"You know, I'm getting really tired of your sass," Tuffnut said, cracking his knuckles threateningly. "I'm thinking we should take care of it."

"Wow, now you're beating people up for actually having some wit? Or is it just people who, unlike you, have any amount of guts?"

"Look, Davin, let's just leave it, okay?" Hiccup requested of her. "It's not worth it."

"I told you, stay out of this, Hiccup," Snotlout ordered harshly, moving to push his cousin down. He never got to, mainly because as his hand thrust toward Hiccup's shoulder, Davin grabbed it by the thumb, twisted it around much farther than it should go, and threw a right punch that hit him solidly in the nose.

It was like a starting gun going off- suddenly, all hell broke loose. As Snotlout stumbled backwards, holding his broken and bleeding nose, and slipped on the melting snow, Ruffnut launched herself at Davin, as if she'd been waiting for an invitation to hit the girl. As the two girls slapped, punched, and kicked each other, Tuffnut and Hiccup started their own tussle. Some bystanders simply stopped and stared in shock at the fight now breaking out; others- mainly students- variedly laughed, gasped, or watched intently. A few ran to find an adult before the scuffle got too bad.

Davin and Ruffnut both had their arms locked on each other's neck, yanking and wrenching one another around. Ruffnut momentarily got the upper hand and delivered a sharp knee to Davin's stomach; gasping for breath, Davin slipped out and backhanded the other girl, then whacked Ruffnut's cheekbone with her elbow. As she was about to kick the blonde, a shrill whistle rang out, making the fight stop cold. Davin and Ruffnut were almost mirror-images of each other in their stance; Hiccup was doing remarkably well on his own against Snotlout and Tuffnut, though at the moment he had his arms pinned by the latter with the former primed to deliver a punch to his face. The whistle sounded again, and Davin found the source: Captain Stoick Haddock, chief of Berk's police force, with a none-too-happy expression on his face.

"What the _hell_ do you kids think you're doing?" Stoick thundered; being such a large person, the effect was especially mollifying. "Starting a fight in the middle of the road, right in front of a school! You _all_," and here he looked pointedly at his nephew, then his son, "should know better. Go on, get out of here before I call your parents. Go get patched up."

Snotlout, with a murderous glare at his cousin and Davin, ran off, Tuffnut and Ruffnut hot on his heels. Davin leaned against her Mini Cooper, the adrenaline leaving her system and the pain from her wounds becoming suddenly a _lot_ more potent. Checking to see that she did indeed still have all of her teeth, she looked into her side-view mirror and appraised her condition, grimacing at the acrid, coppery taste of blood on her tongue.

All in all, she'd gotten off pretty light. There was a nasty welt on her cheek that had split and was beginning to bruise marvelously, two parallel scratches on her other cheek, and a split lip, but other than that she seemed to be okay, other than the dull pain in her solar plexus from Ruffnut's well-placed knee and the sore spot on her tongue where she'd bitten it- luckily her glasses seemed to have survived the encounter relatively unscathed. Hiccup didn't seem to be much worse off than her; other than an "Indian burn" on his right arm, a few cuts and bruises on his face, and the skin on his knuckles beaten raw, he was in fairly good shape for having been outnumbered two to one.

"Hiccup," Davin said, motioning him over, and he came and took a spot next to her on the hood of the car. "Look. If I get an ass-kicking, it's my own fault. I don't need help and I sure as hell didn't need it from you." She spit out a glob of blood. "It wasn't your fight."

"I didn't help you for _you_," he told her, sounding slightly irritated. "I'm sick of those jerks. They had it coming to them. I would have done it anyways."

"Well, next time, stay out of it, okay?"

"Fine. Go get yourself beaten up. Pick a fight. I don't care. But don't tell me what to do, I have plenty of people doing that already." He walked off, his hands jammed into his pockets and his feet scuffing angrily against the asphalt as he headed towards his father's squad car. Davin stared at him as he left, feeling both guilty and vindicated, then marched to the other side of her car and unlocked it.

"You're welcome!" he shouted over his shoulder. She looked at him through the windshield, then sighed, slammed the door shut, and started the engine, wincing once more in pain.

* * *

**Okay, so my prediction held, cause this chapter is almost three times as long as either of the first two. I probably should have just combined them into one chapter, but it doesn't flow quite as well. Oh well.**

**Finally, things are getting interesting! I usually have a clear mental picture of where my stories are going, but I get kind of impatient in writing the lead-in stuff, so I have to try not to rush on the first few chapters. (Which, in retrospect, is kind of what I've done.) And I promise that dragons will show up in either the next chapter or the one after that. Two particular Night Furies (you know who one of them is, or at least you _should_) will be making appearances soon, fear not!**

**So. As always, please please please read and review! I hate to have to beg, but it's the third chapter and I've only gotten one review, so be nice to me. :D**

**~Rebel-Angel-Hero**


	4. Close Calls and Near Misses

**Finally! This is the part I've been waiting three chapters to write. Admittedly, the fight was an interesting scene to write, but this is one of the real turning points of the story, I think. Well, enough chat. I'll stop talking and let you read.**

* * *

Chapter Four: Close Calls and Near Misses

As Davin pulled into the driveway of her house, she mentally prepared herself for the tumult that was sure to follow. First her mother would be worried- unless she'd been called by Stoick, in which case she'd skip straight to the second stage, which was anger. She'd likely chew Davin out, then punish her accordingly (probably by grounding her, not that she really did anything to be grounded from) and send her to her room. Hopefully somewhere in there there'd be a pause for some first-aid TLC.

When she unlocked and opened the front door, she could see that her mother had quite obviously _not_ been called. Mirabelle sat at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of…something, not that it mattered. She looked up with a smile that switched to a wide-eyed look of worry faster than a blink of an eye.

"Oh my God, what happened, Davin?" she asked frantically, rushing over to her daughter. "You look like you got in a fight!"

"Yeah, well…" Davin began, but before she could finish, her mother hustled her over to the table and went to fetch the first aid kit.

"Now tell me what happened," Mirabelle said as she began patching up her daughter.

Davin let her breath out in a whoosh. "Well, you know how you said I look like I got in a fight? Well…I kind of…did."

Mirabelle stopped and looked at her daughter, part confused, part disparaging. "You got in a fight? Why?"

"It was that Jorgenson kid and his chucklehead cronies, the Thorston twins. They were bugging me at lunch."

"So you fought them?"

"No. We had…words…and they must have gotten the impression that I wanted a fight, cause they were waiting at my car after school."

"And how exactly did the fight start?"

"Well, I was talking with them-" Seeing her mother's knowing, disapproving look, she said, "Okay, I was kind of…provoking them. I was annoyed, so I, well, insulted them and…such. Then Hiccup came in-"

"Stoick Haddock's boy?" Mirabelle asked, surprised. "I didn't realize you were friends."

"We're not," Davin asserted, wanting to make the distinction clear. "He just came in. Said he was tired of them picking on people, or something. Then Snotlout tried to hit him…so I kind of…broke Snotlout's nose."

"You what?"

"Look, he was going to hit Hiccup. He's not exactly the biggest kid in town, Mom. I couldn't just let him knock Hiccup down. After that, it all went downhill and, well…" Davin pointed at her various injuries. "I think you get the point." She winced at the sting of the disinfectants. "Ow. Hiccup's dad came in before things got really ugly."

Mirabelle pulled up a chair, her work done. "Davin, you can't just start a fight like that."

"I didn't mean to, Mom! Things just…got out of hand. I didn't want a fight. You know me, I'll sass people six ways from Sunday, but I don't hit them. But I can't just watch a big guy like Snotlout knock the daylights out of a little kid like Hiccup. It doesn't matter whether he's my friend or not." She sighed. "I hoped you might understand this, at least."

"No, I don't understand, Davin," Mirabelle burst out. "I don't understand anything anymore. Not with you. You've been…different, lately. Ever since the divorce."

"Yeah, having your home torn apart tends to change people like that," Davin muttered bitterly.

"I have been doing the best I can!" her mother exclaimed, frustrated. "I'm bending over backwards, trying to accommodate you and make you happy. I know that you're upset about the divorce. I am too."

"Upset?" Davin said incredulously. "Upset? I sure as hell am! We were a normal, happy family. Then you and Dad started fighting and it all went downhill from there. I couldn't come home without hearing the two of you at each other's throats whenever you got the chance. I was too embarrassed to bring people over because I was afraid they'd hear you two. Half the time I'd cry myself to sleep and neither of you would come in to kiss me goodnight. Do you know what that does to an eleven-year-old? The only time my life felt even close to normal was at school and when I was with my friends. Then you took that away, the only thing in my life that was unbroken, and dumped me here without even asking how I felt about all of this. You wonder why I'm angry and resentful and defiant all the time? It's because of all of this!"

"Did you ever think that maybe I'm not happy about all of this either?" Mirabelle asked angrily, close to tears. "Did you ever think that maybe the reason I never came in to kiss you goodnight was because I was crying too? I tried so hard to make things work. I didn't want you to have to suffer all of this. But your father and I were not going to be able to mend things. We just weren't meant for each other."

"Maybe you should have figured that out before you had me," Davin shot back.

"Davin, no matter how hard you rail against me, no matter how much you scream and cry and say that you hate us, you can't bring us back together. You can't fix us."

"Then you should have tried harder to do that yourself, so I wouldn't have to try to!" she yelled, jumping up and storming to the front door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mirabelle said, getting up as well.

"Out!"

"Get back here, young lady!" Mirabelle called, but her daughter was already gone. She heard the Mini Cooper's engine start, then the squeal of the tires as the little car roared out of the driveway. She collapsed back into her chair, dropping her head in her hands as she began to cry.

* * *

It didn't really matter where she was going. She just wanted to go somewhere that wasn't her house. The fading daylight didn't really register in her brain, and neither did the slick roads, wet from the melting snow. Right now, she just wanted to drive, and drive fast.

Horns blared as she passed- breaking more than a few traffic laws in the process- but they were far and few in between, as by now the roads of the small town had begun to thin out. She didn't pay any attention to them, keeping her eyes on the road and her mind on anything but her screwed-up personal life. Her knuckles went white as she gripped the steering wheel tightly, part scared and part exhilarated at how recklessly she was driving.

The road in front of her was deserted, so she floored it, pushing her already-dangerous speed even higher. When the needle hit sixty miles an hour on the dial, she peered out at the road ahead, thinking that she saw an indistinct shape a few hundred yards in front of her, and slowed down a little. The indistinct shape quickly turned into a clearly human outline, and she hit the brakes, forgetting for a moment how slick the roads were.

She remembered when she felt the back end of the car swing out to the right, and in a panic she realized that she was spinning out and had just lost total control of the car. _Oh, crap,_ was all she managed to think before she wrenched the wheel around counter-clockwise as hard as she could. Thank god her parents had thought to make sure that she'd learned how to _really_ drive before letting her get her license. Turning into the spin seemed counterintuitive, but it was the only way to right the car.

And indeed it did- right in time for her to see that she was about to drive off the road. She desperately tried to swerve out of the way, but the car careened off and came to a lurching stop in a ditch. She shakily killed the engine and leaned back, catching her breath. She looked down at her hands, which were trembling, then looked at her face, pale and wide-eyed, in her rear view mirror. A shape- the person she'd almost hit- came running up and banged on the window. She looked up and groaned slightly when she saw who it was. Just her luck that she'd almost hit Hiccup Haddock. She rolled down the window and leaned her head against her hands on the steering wheel.

"Are you out of your freaking mind?" he yelled. "You could have killed both of us! What did you think you were doing, driving that fast down a wet road, in the _dark_?" When she didn't answer, he tapped her shoulder.

"Davin?" He listened closer and, with a shock, noticed that she was crying.

"Hey, are you okay? Look, I was just kind of…worked up, I guess. I mean, what you did was really stupid, but I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything…"

She heaved a fresh sob in reply. He uncertainly made his way to the other side of the car and got into the passenger seat. "Are you okay?" he repeated.

She sat back up, her eyes red and face blotchy. "I had a fight with my mom," she told him, rather than answering the question. "She wasn't happy about the fight, I didn't imagine she would be, but it started going in another direction and then things just blew up. Our whole relationship lately has been…tense, at best." She laughed hollowly. "Could you believe that I used to be a nice person?" Without bothering to wait for an answer- it was a rhetorical question anyways- she plowed along.

"My family was perfectly normal for a while. Everything changed around my tenth birthday. My parents had this little fight about something…I don't even remember what. Things escalated from there. Soon they were arguing about everything- who was supposed to take me to my piano lessons, whose turn it was to cook dinner. Anything and everything, even me, became a point of contention. I used to think that it was _my_ fault that they were fighting. Around the start of my freshman year, they started talking about things like a 'trial separation,' and how they'd split things in the event of a divorce. It scared me, really badly. I started acting up, changing my behavior- anything to keep them from thinking about getting a divorce. Of course, that only made things worse, and they split officially in September. I thought that I was going to stay with my dad in D.C., but when I found out that I was moving to Berk, I threw a huge fit. I even ran away to my friend's house for a night- that didn't go over too well."

She smiled wryly. "You know, when I got here, the first thing I decided on doing as soon as I graduate is getting out of this place. I suppose Berk's grown on me a little. I could care less about a lot of the people at school, but the town's a fairly nice place. I just have to get used to it, I guess."

"It does have that effect," Hiccup agreed. "I've only been out of town a couple times, and that was before my mom died."

"I'm sorry," Davin said quietly.

"It's okay. I was about nine when she died. It's an old wound." The look on his face, however, told him that even though it was old, it still hurt. They sat in silence, the night around them calm.

"I haven't really opened up to anyone like this," Davin admitted. "So just know that if you tell _anyone_- and that includes my mother- about all of this, I _will_ beat you senseless."

He grinned sardonically. "Who would I tell?"

With a pang of shame, she realized how true his words were. Sometimes she saw him talking to Fishlegs Ingerman, a large, shy kid who loved role-play games, and Astrid Hofferson, a tough, but kind, slightly abrasive girl their age, but she got the sense that they weren't exactly bosom friends. Rather than answering, she offered, "I'll drive you home."

"You sure?" he asked a little tentatively, the near miss earlier obviously still fresh in his memory.

"I'm sure. I'm not a bad driver, I was just…upset."

"Okay, thanks." They buckled in and Davin carefully made her way out of the muddy ditch, getting back onto the main road and driving away.

* * *

Once again there was a noticeable lack of conversation when Davin got home, but this time it seemed more relaxed. As soon as she'd walked in, she'd hugged her mother and apologized with a simple "Sorry." As simple as it was, it seemed to be all that was needed.

The next few days weren't much different for Davin. It wasn't like her attitude had dramatically improved overnight because of the near-accident. She did, however, start sitting with Hiccup at lunch, and she wasn't quite as snappish and rude anymore. The decrease in her general hostility was noted- and appreciated- by many, though no one commented on it.

Over the past few days, Hiccup had always had his nose in _The Dragon Book_, looking up one dragon species or another, then seemingly comparing it to something in his sketchbook. Never having had much talent when it came to drawing, Davin had quickly noticed his artistic skill, and occasionally noted it aloud. One day at lunch, however, _The Dragon Book_ and his sketchbook were nowhere to be found.

"Are you doing anything after school today?" he asked her.

"No, I don't have work today," she replied, curious. "Why?"

"There's something I want to show you. Do you have a bike?"

"No. My old one doesn't work anymore, and my mom didn't see much point in getting me one now that I have my car."

"Okay, then meet me at the bookstore at around 3:30. I've got something I want to show you. But you have to promise not to tell anyone, and I mean _anyone_."

"Who am I going to tell?" she said wittily, echoing his words the other night. He gave her a look, and she acceded, saying, "Fine, fine, I promise."

* * *

At three-thirty, Davin was standing by the bookshop, looking around for Hiccup. Soon enough he came riding up on a beaten old bike. Upon further inspection the cage in the back had been hastily converted into a second seat, and there were metal tubes for someone to stand on fitted to the back wheel.

"Get on," he said. She complied unenthusiastically, and seeing no other option, reluctantly wrapped her arms around his waist to stay on.

"I don't see why we can't take my car wherever we're going," she said a little petulantly, uneasy about her wobbly seat and questionable foothold.

"There's no road and the terrain's too rough to take your Mini Cooper," he answered, having to talk a little loudly over the wind rushing by them (not only was it windy, but he was riding pretty fast, a fact that was not lost on Davin and did nothing to put her at ease). "It's easiest on a bike."

Once they were out of the town, it was mainly bumpy dirt paths that made the ride more than a little uncomfortable. Hiccup expertly steered around, under, and over various obstacles as they headed into the forest, leading Davin to believe he'd taken this route many times before. She mainly kept her growing sense of apprehension at bay, though she did squeak when he jumped the bike- a surprising feat, considering the extra weight- over a little stream. She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw him smirk at that.

Eventually they made it to a small rock outcropping in a break in the trees, with a sheer cliff nearby. She got off as soon as she could, already dreading the ride back, and he hid the bike behind a particularly large boulder.

"Sorry about the ride," he apologized, honestly sympathetic to her discomfort. "But it's really the only way to get over here."

"And where is 'here?'" she asked. "I'm still pretty unclear on why you dragged me out here on your rickety old bike."

"Let me show you," he said. "And remember, you promised not to tell anyone."

"I don't know what's so secret that I can't tell anyone, but alright."

He led her over to the edge of the cliff. Her expression changed dramatically- eyes bigger than dinner plates, eyebrows higher than the Empire State Building, and jaw dropped- when she saw what was below. "No way," she breathed.

* * *

**Oh, cliffhangers. You know you love them. :D**

**Well, I think you all know what's below that cliff...considering I did promise you dragons in either this chapter or the next. And since no dragons (unless you count The Dragon Book) in this chapter, well...you get my meaning.**

**As I said before, this is really the point that I've been so impatient to get to. I hope that little time-lapse part in the middle wasn't too bad. I really hate writing time-skips, because they always come out sounding lame. It's my curse. I didn't want it to seem like she'd had some life-altering experience that had changed her overnight, because that wasn't what it was. The near-accident shook her, and it forced her to re-evaluate some things, including, to some extent, her view on life. That's what I was trying to get across. She hadn't changed dramatically, but she did change a little.**

**As always, READ AND REVIEW! Or I will sick...Toothless on you. I mean, offspring of lightning and death? Pretty darn dangerous there. His cuteness is almost blinding. :D**

**~Rebel-Angel-Hero**

**(P.S.: I anticipate that the majority of the swearing in this fic was in the fight in last chapter, so for those of you who don't like it, you're in luck.)**


	5. Completely Illegal

**Yoink! I'm sorry it took me so long to update, I've been SOOO busy this week. But hopefully I should be...less busy this week.**

**Anyways, read on! I now finally finish that terrible cliffhanger!**

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Chapter Five: Completely Illegal

"No way," Davin breathed as she looked down below her. About twenty feet down, where the cliff ended, was a huge clearing-canyon, about one and a half football fields wide, that led into a series of caves. A stream waterfalled into a small pond on the right edge of the clearing. Down in the clearing and caves were about fifteen dragons of several different kinds- Hideous Zipplebacks, Terrible Terrors, Gronckles, Deadly Nadders, and even two Monstrous Nightmares. Her eyes roamed over the strange and astounding sight.

"Come here. There's someone I want to show you," Hiccup told her, grabbing her wrist and leading her along. They made their way down a well-hidden path along the ridge-side into the clearing below. The dragons there seemed to be pretty used to him, but were curious about Davin. A few brave ones cautiously came near and sniffed at her.

He led her into the cave farthest left of where they'd been standing above. It was surprisingly big, and the light from outside reached a ways in. Further back, however, it faded into black. Suddenly out of the darkness bounded an equally dark shape, obviously eager to see Hiccup.

"Hey, buddy, nice to see you, too," he said as the dragon enthusiastically greeted him. Noticing Davin, the dragon sniffed at her interestedly.

"This is Toothless," Hiccup told her. "He's a Night Fury."

She reached out a tentative hand, which Toothless placed his head under. She absently scratched the dragon.

"Hiccup, you do realize how illegal this is, right?" she asked him. "This is get-your-ass-thrown-in-jail-for-twenty-years illegal. Your dad would _kill_ you if he found out. Dragons haven't been legal in Berk for almost twenty-five years."

"I know," he said, and the look on his face told her that he'd been worrying about the same problem for quite some time. "But I don't hate dragons, not like Berk does. Not like my father does. He only sees the dragon attack thirty years ago. But not all dragons are bad, just like not all people are bad. And actually, the dragons living near Berk aren't the ones that attacked the town."

"There are more?"

"Yeah, there's another, bigger nest about ten miles north." A large thump sounded and they both looked down at Toothless, who had collapsed with a blissful look on his face.

"All I did was scratch under his chin," she defended, slightly worried.

"Oh, that's okay. There's a nerve there on pretty much all dragons that if you hit it, they drop like flies." They laughed a little at the happy Night Fury curled up on the ground.

Another dark shape came bounding out of the darkness. It was a Night Fury like Toothless, only of a more navy-blue hue rather than coal-black. It sniffed at Toothless, then, deciding that he was alright, looked inquisitively at Davin. It leapt over Toothless and almost bowled the girl over as it poked, prodded, and sniffed at her curiously.

"So that's where you were hiding, girl," Hiccup said. "I was wondering where you were."

"What's her name?"

Hiccup paused for a moment. "You know, I've never actually named her. Most of the time I try not to name them if I don't know what their real name is."

"How do you know what their names are?" Davin asked, now scratching the Night Fury.

"They tell me."

She stopped what she was doing in her shock. The female Night Fury nosed her hand impatiently, obviously displeased with the halt.

"You can _talk_ to them?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah," he said, almost as if it was obvious. "I speak Dragonese."

"Well, I sure didn't see _that_ one coming," she said, still a little in shock. "So she's never told you her name?"

"Nope. She's kind of quiet, actually. I'm a little surprised by how much she likes you. She's never taken to anyone like this."

"You've brought other people here?"

"Oh, no, I meant other dragons."

Davin looked at the midnight-blue dragon. "Ask her if she has a name," she said.

Hiccup did. "She wants you to name her," he relayed. "She likes you."

"Really? Okay, let me think about it for a little while, alright, dear?" she said to the dragon. The amount of tenderness and, frankly, affection that Davin was showing the dragon surprised Hiccup. He'd never seen her act this way.

They made their way out of the cave, with Toothless and the female Night Fury following. Hiccup told her the names of various dragons in the clearing, at least those he knew or had named. Once the introductions and greeting were over with- the dragons seemed to like her, or at least accept her, as much as they did Hiccup- Davin settled on a small boulder by the pond, with the female Night Fury curled up on the ground below. They stayed in the clearing for a while, but at one point Hiccup looked up at the sky and noted the approaching sunset.

"We should be headed back," he told Davin. "It'll start getting dark before too long, and I really don't want to ride through the forest in the dark."

"Okay," she called, and slid off the boulder, giving the Night Fury a few scratches and pats before heading back over to the path to the top.

"Did you decide on a name?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah. I already told her. It's Réalta. It means 'star' in Gaelic."

"It's pretty."

"Yup. The color of her scales reminded me of the night sky."

They made their way carefully up the path; once they reached the top, they called a few last goodbyes to the dragons, then got on the bike and began the rough trek back to Berk.

* * *

Mirabelle walked into the police station to find Stoick Haddock gathered with Spitelout Jorgenson, his lieutenant, and Gobber, his former partner.

"Stoick, what's this I hear about you stocking up on anti-dragon weapons?" Mirabelle demanded. "You've sent more patrols out into the area surrounding Berk, too. What are you thinking?"

"This isn't your business, Mira," Stoick said dismissively.

"To hell with that! You'll scare the whole town if you keep doing this."

Stoick sighed. "There's been an increase of dragon activity nearby lately, that's all. We just want to be prepared."

"From what I heard, you've got enough firepower to start a war, not defend a town." Mirabelle pulled over a chair and sat down. "Look, Stoick. I know dragons are a sensitive subject around here, especially with you."

"You didn't lose family in the attack, Mira."

"I lost friends. I lost my house. My family lost our business. Don't try to tell me that anyone came out better or worse off from that, Stoick. We were all hit hard." She stood up again and made her way out. At the door, she paused and turned around, and said, "Don't do anything that you'll regret."

* * *

After her first encounter with the dragons, Davin spent almost every moment there that she wasn't at school or work. Réalta, who was still a relatively young dragon, had grown almost to her full size in the following two months, leading to the possibility of flying. Hiccup, who had already designed a saddle for Toothless, began working on one for Réalta- or "Réa," as they'd taken to calling her- and finished just inside of three weeks. After that was finished, he started teaching Davin about flying- mainly how to hang on when a Night Fury went all out, or when they chose to turn in the air, which was not an uncommon occurrence with Toothless.

One day at lunch, Davin sat down to find Hiccup not drawing or doing anything that he usually did at lunch. Instead, he looked the same way he had the day he'd first taken her to the clearing.

"What's up?" she asked. "You look like you're about to burst."

"Do you want to go up today?"

She dropped her sandwich in surprise. "You mean, up on Réa? You think I'm ready?"

"Yeah. Besides, flying's not really something you can teach. You either can, or you can't. And you can."

"Sweet," she said, grinning. "I'll be at the normal place after school."

* * *

**Yay! First flight is next chapter! It's gonna be FUN to write!**

**Well, this story seems to be coming along quite nicely. I anticipate it being around the same length that _I'd Rather Be Different_ was, meaning about seven or eight chapters in total. I don't believe this one will have a sequel, though. The story wraps itself up, and continuing it would be like Disney trying to make a sequel. It just doesn't work.**

**So...as always, READ AND REVIEW! Thank you to the people who have favorited this story and added it to their watch lists (that's kind of a deviantART term, so i.e. story alert lists), it really does mean a lot that you people like this story. However, the way that I really know that you read this story and like it is if you review. Just a suggestion. That doesn't mean I don't want you all to favorite and watch this story. I just want you to review as well.**

**Well, enough of my rambling. Thanks for reading!**

**~Rebel-Angel-Hero**


	6. First Flight

**Oh my gosh, I am _sooo_ sorry that it took me so long to update! I have been unbelievably busy lately, and this chapter was surprisingly tedious to write. I promise I'll never do it again! Please don't hurt me! I will try harder next time! ~**

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Chapter Five: First Flight

Davin looked at the darkening sky with apprehension, barely paying attention to the now-familiar bumpy ride to the nest.

"You sure we should go up today?" she asked Hiccup uncertainly. "I don't like the look of those clouds."

"We'll be fine," he assured her. "The storm won't start until tomorrow. Right now the clouds are just building up. It'll be great flying, don't worry."

She took his word on it, though personally she was thinking that he was crazy. Then again, he'd been flying a lot longer than she had…which wasn't saying much, since she'd never flown at all.

When they reached the canyon, Toothless and Réalta were there waiting impatiently, and they practically attacked their respective riders once the teenagers made it to the bottom. Réa in particular was especially excited.

"Okay, okay, girl, I get it, you're happy to see me," Davin said, trying to push Réa's head away as the Night Fury pushed her nose at the girl.

Hiccup went into Toothless and Réalta's cave and retrieved the two dragons' saddles. "We'll take off from above. I think a vertical takeoff on your first time would be a little nerve-racking."

"Couldn't agree more," Davin said, still trying to get away from her over-affectionate friend. The weather was still her biggest concern at that point; while Hiccup probably had more experience in the matter than her, she was not at all keen on the idea of being caught in a storm and risk being struck by lightning.

The two dragons took off in a flash, shooting straight up and diving back to the ground, this time in the forest above the canyon. Once the two slower humans made it to the top, they saddled the Night Furies, mounted- Davin somewhat less gracefully than Hiccup- and hooked the riding harnesses that Hiccup had made to the saddles.

He turned to her. "Ready?" he asked.

Davin breathed in deep. Flying had always been a dream of hers, and she was beyond excited, but now that the reality of being on a _Night Fury_, about to take off at high speed, was finally sinking in, she was, in all honesty, a little scared, too.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she said, gripping the saddle tightly. Prying a hand from the saddle, she gave Réalta a shaky pat. "Let's go. Gently," she added quickly, looking pointedly at the dragon she was astride.

Réa shook her head, as if she were a horse tossing its mane, and circled around so that she pointed towards the gaping mouth of the canyon. Davin sucked in another breath sharply. "Oh, boy," she muttered, knowing what was about to happen.

With a powerful thrust of their wings, the two Night Furies shot off over the canyon at a blindingly fast speed, soaring into the sky as the forest below them faded from clarity into barely-visible detail. Davin's scream of equal parts exhilaration and terror was thrown back into her face by the force of the wind as the dragons raced into the gray evening.

Davin had never been into sports much at school, preferring to stick to her writing and music composition. She was certainly capable of outrunning half the girls in her class, or beating the snot out of half of the boys, but athletics had never managed to catch her interest. But this…almost immediately, she knew she had been born to fly.

Toothless and Réalta arced through the sky, gliding along the winds. Once the initial scare over the sudden takeoff faded, Davin began to relax, loosening her hold on the saddle. Remembering that she was hooked into the saddle, and not going to fall off, she let go and held out her arms, delighting in the feel of the wind rushing past her. She let out a gleeful laugh, making Hiccup look over and smile.

"Follow me," he yelled over to her, and she nodded in reply. He pulled Toothless up short and steered the dragon straight up in a vertical ascent, heading for the gray clouds above them. Davin, made once again a little uneasy by the gathering storm clouds, maneuvered Réalta to follow as they entered the cloud layer.

At first, she was sure he was just crazy- it was damp and cold, not her idea of fun. But after a minute, she could see what he meant. Réalta, being a dragon, was far from cold, and if Davin leaned close against the blue-black scales, she could stay fairly warm. The air in the clouds was cool- not cold- and it felt wonderful as it rushed past her, brushing against her cheeks and whipping her hair about, tangling it into knots she knew she'd have to comb out. But right then, exulting in the majesty of flight, she didn't care one bit. She reached up a hand and felt the condensed water rush past, leaving her hand wet.

Grinning broadly, finally seeing why Hiccup had brought her up on such a day, she steered Réalta up above the cloud layer. The change was beyond noticeable- above the clouds, the sky was clear. It was tinged with the purples, pinks, and oranges of the sunset; the sight nearly took her breath away. She looked around and found Hiccup and Toothless flying just behind her to her right. He grinned at her, as if he knew what she was thinking.

"This is amazing!" she yelled back at him. He smiled even wider and nodded, then dove back through the clouds, Davin hot on his heels. They pelted through the air and curved down towards the water. Réalta skimmed the surface of the waves, tilting so that her wing dipped into the water a little and sent a splash of spray up into Davin's face, making her shriek a little.

They caught up to Hiccup and Toothless and pulled even with them. He looked over at them. "I've got something I want to show you," he called over. "It's this way."

They flew over the tossing waves in the dimming light to a cliff overlooking the vast horizon. They landed there, and Davin was met with a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean at sunset. The gathering storm clouds, gray before, were now tinged with orange and salmon colors; the waves, from a distance only seeming to be gently rolling, sparkled with the fading sunlight. The sky was a masterpiece of purples, pinks, oranges, and every shade in between, and Davin knew that even Hiccup, talented though he was, could never have created anything better.

"It's beautiful," she breathed. He nodded in agreement.

"I like to come up here sometimes, if the weather's right. I never get tired of that view."

They sat in silence next to their dragons, drinking up the wonder. When the orange-yellow sun had been almost halfway swallowed up by the sea, Hiccup stood up. "We should probably head back," he said. "It'll be getting dark soon."

Reluctantly, Davin agreed and mounted Réa to go back towards Berk. She felt like she could spend all of time in the air, if possible. It was the most incredible experience she'd ever had. And the sunset she'd seen, well…living on the East Coast, especially D.C., if you wanted to watch a sunset, the best you'd see was it fading behind some buildings. Watching a sunrise at the shore was pretty as well, but had she never come to Berk, she'd have never known the beauty of what she'd just witnessed.

Unfortunately, the bubbling happiness over the day was slightly dampened- literally- by the storm, which chose to begin raining when they had reached the top of the clearing after saying goodnight to the dragons. Both muttered various curses and expletives, but flipped up their hoods- knowing about the coming storm, both had worn hooded jackets- and got on Hiccup's old bike anyways. By the time they reached Berk, the rain was coming down even harder, and they were soaked through.

"Well, this is great," Davin said, looking down at her sopping-wet clothes. They were in front of the walkway to her front door, Davin standing next to the bike that Hiccup was still mounted on.

"I didn't think it would start raining until later tonight," Hiccup apologized.

She waved a hand at him. "That's alright. I wouldn't have traded today for anything in the world." She smiled at him. "Today was, quite possibly, the best day of my life."

"There's more to come," he pointed out. "I don't think you'll need much more practice on Réa. You're a natural flyer."

"That's good to know, considering I'm not much good at any other sport." They both had a good laugh at that, but when it puttered away, there were left where they'd been- standing awkwardly in the rain, getting only wetter, if it was possible.

"Well, goodnight," Davin said lamely, but she made no move to head to her door. It was ineptly quiet for a moment, then he quickly leaned over, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and pelted off into the darkness. Davin stood there for a moment, both shocked and pleased, then rubbed a hand against the cheek he'd kissed, glad that he wasn't there- and that it was too dark- to see her beet-red face.

Her mother was sitting at the dining room table when Davin opened the door, a none-too-happy expression on her face. "Where have you been?" she demanded. "It's half past eight. You know you're not supposed to be out after sunset unless you tell me where you are. And you're soaking wet!"

"Sorry, Mom," Davin said absently, not really answering her mother's questions. Not really remembering that she was wetter than a loaded sponge, she trooped up the stairs, leaving a confused and slightly miffed mother at the bottom.

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**Kind of short, but I hope it's enough to forgive me for making you all wait so long. Thank you to all of the people who have been reviewing! I always feel very special when I know that someone thought that my work was worth their time. And thanks to all of the newcomers to this story!**

**I have a general idea of where I'm going after this, but I'm not really sure how long it's going to be. I kind of plan on the climax and ending being similar to that of the movie, and if any of you who are reading this have read _Principles and Elements_ by Grim Revolution (read it if you haven't, I highly recommend it, and make sure to drop Grim a get-well line- she's recovering from being hit by a car), I will try _VERY VERY_ hard to not make my battle similar to hers. _VERY VERY_ hard. But in any case, I kind of anticipate it being about two or three more chapters.**

**Now. Onto Davin. I'd like your feedback and input about how you feel about her character development. Do you like/dislike it? Is she becoming a Mary-Sue character? Was she already a Mary-Sue character, and is only becoming worse? I'm really trying to stray away from Mary-Sueishness, because, as I've found, that's pretty much what my original characters end up being.**

**As always, read and review! Or I will...gosh, I've run out of threats. Well...just read and review! Please? :3**

**~Rebel-Angel-Hero**


	7. Warning Signs

**I am a horrible person, I know. It's not entirely my fault! I was on vacation for a week and a half, where I had very limited or no internet access, and these past few chapters have been really slow writing. I'm hoping that it'll get better soon. So I present to you a shiny new chapter! Here you go.**

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Chapter Seven: Warning Signs

At school the next day, neither Davin nor Hiccup mentioned the impulsive kiss he'd given her. Personally, Davin was still mystified. She'd never been particularly interested in boys, and they'd never been particularly interested in her. The smart ones were too terrified to even try to ask her out, and the not-so-smart ones learned better soon enough. The omitted information didn't put much of a speed bump in the conversation- all that Davin could talk about was flying. Of course, they had to be careful talking about dragons; most of the students at their small high school took the majority of their parents' stance about dragons- the only good dragon was a dead one. So mainly they talked about it while Davin was at work, when there were no customers around. Her boss didn't mind that Hiccup hung around, as long as she got her work done.

As soon as Davin got off work, she'd drive them to Hiccup's house to pick up his bike (since she had started driving Hiccup to school, his bike was generally left at his house), and off they'd go into the woods, and stay out flying until it started to get dark (by now, Mirabelle had chosen instead to extend Davin's curfew by an hour after she repeatedly came home late). Despite her store of natural talent, Davin was convinced that she was possibly the clumsiest and most awkward dragon rider there was- in her case, practice really did make perfect. But that did little to deter her, not when she could fly- a childhood dream come true.

This was what Davin thought on as they jumbled through the forest towards the dragon den. She'd long before gotten used to the bumpy ride, though her heart always skipped a beat whenever Hiccup jumped the bike over the small stream. She knew that he did it just to poke a little fun at her, not scare her, but it didn't stop her from socking him as soon as they got off the bike.

When they reached the bottom of the canyon, they found Toothless and Réalta playfully roughhousing, like two small rambunctious children. As soon as they caught notice of their humans approaching, they bounded over excitedly, practically bowling the two teenagers over in their exuberance.

"Nice to see you, too," Davin laughed as Réalta poked, prodded, and even licked her, undignified as it was. Toothless was sitting at Hiccup scratched his head, taking care to avoid the nerve that Davin had discovered on accident. After the initial greeting, they said hello to the other dragons in the canyon and then took off, this time straight from the bottom of the canyon- Davin having since gotten used to the terrifying vertical takeoffs- and shooting into the sky.

This was always the best part of her day. To be in the air, atop a dragon who had become a friend closer than family, with her new friend, who always understood everything about her, doing the thing that her heart had longed for so long, was the most incredible experience there was. She would never tire of flying all her life long, that much she knew. And despite herself, she'd come to love Berk as well- the little town was almost annoyingly lovable, the kind of thing that grows on you after a while.

They were heading to an area that they hadn't been before, mainly just to have somewhere new to explore. Davin was broken from her train of thought when Réa jerked suddenly and whipped her head around, as if she'd suddenly noticed something. Toothless seemed to be having the same reaction, and Réa, for once, took the lead as she dove into the trees below, taking cover from whatever they'd spotted.

"What is it, girl?" Davin whispered, catching the hint and crouching low against Réalta's saddle, as the dragon moved to hide herself better.

The sound of footsteps treading over the undergrowth could be heard nearby, and getting closer. In mid-spring, the plants covering the ground of the forest were mainly young, green, springy stuff, and Davin could see why she hadn't heard whoever it was before now- there were tell-tale signs in the sounds of people who were trying hard to not be seen or heard.

Suddenly a party of around five or six people, each armed with some heavy-duty firepower, went past about fifteen to twenty feet away. With a shock, the two teenagers realized that they recognized all of them as being from Berk. They stayed silent, hardly breathing at all, until the party had passed. With a whoosh, Davin let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

She turned her head to Hiccup. "Do you know anything about this?" she asked.

He shook his head, looking visibly worried. "Not really. I've heard my dad saying stuff about extra patrols in the area, but I had no idea it was like this. Those weren't just normal guns- they were anti-dragon weapons."

Davin raised an eyebrow. "That's some serious stuff. Does your dad expect to run into any dragons anytime soon?"

"I heard something about there being more dragons than usual in the area. Maybe he's out doing some kind of campaign to get them to leave before they get too close."

"He'll have to try harder than that if he wants to scare away anything bigger than a Terrible Terror. Five or six people against something like a Monstrous Nightmare or a Night Fury? Or a Venomous Whiplash? They wouldn't stand a chance."

"I don't know," Hiccup said doubtfully. "Those aren't normal bullets. They're designed to penetrate even thick dragon skin. Something that could fly fast like a Whiplash or a Night Fury, especially with the kind of attacks they've got, might do pretty well, but even a Nightmare would have trouble against those weapons."

Davin shook her head. "Whatever your dad's planning, I hope he knows what he's doing."

* * *

After that encounter, they stayed in the parts of the forest and coastline that they knew were safe, leaving their exploration for another day. But their curiosity couldn't be held in check forever, and before long they were out flying towards a set of caves near the edge of the county.

They chose to fly along the coast before turning back inland, simply because Davin liked flying over the water. This time they went farther out than on her first flight, where the sea was rougher, as Davin was becoming more adventurous. Réalta skipped over the tossing waves, brushing them as they crested before falling back into the surf.

A particularly large wave rose up before them. Réalta made to swoop up over it, but out of the wave erupted a snapping, roaring creature, which, Davin realized with a shock, must be a sea dragon, a little-seen but not uncommon race of dragons. Réa and Toothless swerved to the sides to avoid the dragon, which gave chase after the two Night Furies. It would speed underneath the waves, then burst out and try to catch one of the fleeing dragons, who managed to stay just ahead of it.

Hiccup directed Toothless towards an outcropping of rock that formed a sort of maze; Davin, with a sense of apprehension, followed, no longer entirely sure in her ability to navigate such a treacherous path. Any road, the sea dragon seemed to lose interest, deciding that its chosen prey was too difficult a catch. But before either human noticed this, they were in the maze, turning and twisting sharply to avoid crashing into the stone pillars. And before she knew it, they were through, adrenaline still pumping through her system.

They flew up the cliffs that were strewn along the Oregon coastline to land, Davin happy to be on solid ground once again. Breathing hard, she looked to her left at Hiccup, who seemed similarly wound up by the brush with death. Unable to help herself, Davin broke into shaky laughter, Hiccup joining in.

"Well, that was exciting," he said, the understatement clear in his voice.

"Yeah, a little _too_ exciting," she agreed vehemently. "I about had a heart attack when we went through that maze."

"I figured it might get that thing off our tail."

"I was more worried about getting killed in that maze than getting eaten by that sea dragon," Davin told him frankly.

"Oh, you were fine. I've told you before, you're a natural flyer. Some people it just comes to."

"I've never had anything just…come to me," she admitted. "I mean, I'm good at writing and composing, and playing music, but that's about it."

"Well, here's something else you can add to your resume," he said, grinning. "Shall we get going?"

"Yes, before it gets too dark. It's an hour later, but I've still got a curfew."

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The sun was about halfway through its journey towards the horizon when the two pairs reached the outcropping of caves that was their destination. Sending the Night Furies off with a warning to stay nearby, Hiccup and Davin explored the caves, Hiccup having wisely brought a flashlight.

By far, Hiccup had the more experience between the two- not surprising, considering that Davin had spent the first sixteen years of her life, with the exceptions of a few camping trips and visits to her grandmother in upstate New York, in the most urban areas of Washington, D.C. Regardless, she was still enjoying the cool, quiet, and ancientness of the caves, a place that had remained unsullied by the modern age.

As they shone the flashlight ahead of them, they saw a faint light in the distance. Too curious for their own good, they cautiously made their way towards it. It grew brighter and redder as they got closer; soon, they came upon an opening that was roughly big enough for a teenager their size to fit through. They squeezed through to find a shocking sight before them.

They had come out on a small ledge overlooking a huge cavern. It was lit fiery red; all around them, dragons of every kind were gathered and packed in on ledges similar to their own. They seemed to be in the higher part of the cavern, but they crouched down to avoid being seen, as it was never a good idea to be alone and unarmed in a nest of dragons.

The dragons were roaring, growling, snarling, and making all such manner of guttural sounds. Hiccup had a look of concentration on his face, and Davin remembered that he could understand dragons' speech.

"What are they saying?" she whispered.

"This is not good," he said in a low, tense voice. "Not good at all."

"What is it?"

"They're going to attack Berk," he told her. "They've been congregating for a while, and now they're going to attack."

"We need to get back to Berk," she said. "We need to warn everyone."

Nodding his agreement, they stood up and made to sneak out. As Hiccup stood up, his foot brushed the flashlight, sending it tumbled over the edge. Davin held her breath, hoping vainly that the dragons might not notice.

They did. All manner of scaled and horned head twisted up to find the origin of the object falling before them. Finding the two humans, they roared and snarled, and the meaning was clear.

"Run!" Hiccup yelled, grabbing Davin's hand and pulling her along the passage with him. Dispensing with any pretense of secrecy, they pelted through the dark to the entrance to the caves, dragons scrambling and squeezing through the hole they'd slipped through. Hiccup let out an ear-splitting whistle- obviously a pre-arranged signal, because when they emerged from the caves, roaring and fire-breathing dragons hot on their tails, Toothless and Réalta came bounding into the small clearing at the mouth to the caves. Hiccup and Davin practically threw themselves onto their dragons, not even bothering to secure themselves to the saddles, as the Night Furies shot into the air and sped through the fading light faster than they'd ever gone with humans aboard, the howls and roars of the hostile dragons echoing behind them.

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**I think you all know what scene that was. Or at least, you should.**

**I hope this is enough for you guys! I promise, I really am working hard. But I've also been working on other stuff, too. _No Day But Today_ has had a good start, and I'm trying to get another chapter out on that, as well...also, I've got some of my original stories that I'm working on, an Arthurian story and an Alice in Wonderland story as well. (The Alice in Wonderland one is a serious redo of my _Alice of Wonderland_ story that I'd started over on .) And school starts up again in a week, so I've been trying to finish up all of my summer work as well...I'm really quite busy.**

**As always, read and review. I love logging onto my email and seeing those review alert messages. They always brighten my day!**

**Cheers, loves.**

**~Rebel-Angel-Hero**


	8. Pretty Damn Sure

**I have no more excuses any more, except that school has started, and I'm taking Honors Physics, AP Calculus, and AP US History. I think that's enough said.**

**I do, however, apologize for the lateness of this chapter.**

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Chapter Eight: Pretty Damn Sure

As soon as they reached the canyon, Davin and Hiccup bade Toothless and Réalta a hasty goodbye before pelting through the forest, both too concerned about their home to be worried about the breakneck speed. The sun had almost set before they reached Hiccup's house, but to their dismay, Stoick wasn't there.

"Maybe the police station?" Davin suggested as she got back on the back of the bike, and Hiccup nodded and peeled off, disregarding the few pedestrians who protested as they flew past.

When they reached the police station, Hiccup didn't even bother with locking up his bike- him being the chief's son, the chance of it being stolen was low anyways; instead, he and Davin ran into the station, searching for his father.

They found him in the middle of a small clump, all of them roaring with laughter at some joke that had just been made.

"Dad!" Hiccup called out as they stopped to catch their breath.

"Hiccup?" Stoick said, surprised. "What are you two doing here this late? You look like you just ran to Portland and back."

"Dad, there's something we need to tell you-"

"It can wait, son, we haven't finished the story," Stoick chuckled, and the others surrounding him joined in.

"Dad, it's really important-"

"There's a huge number of dragons heading to attack Berk," Davin blurted out. "We've got to hurry."

The office went gravely silent- dragon attacks, even only possible ones, were not a laughing matter in Berk.

"How do you know this?" Stoick asked, frowning. "Does this have anything to do with where the two of you have been disappearing to for the last two months?"

Davin looked at Hiccup uncertainly. "Kind of…"

"Where are they coming from? How many are there? Be straight with me, you two. A lot of people's lives depend on it."

"We don't know how many there are, but there's a lot of them, Dad, I've never seen that many," Hiccup told him. "They've been gathering their numbers for a while, they said months, and now they're coming-"

"'They said months'?" Stoick asked incredulously. "How could you know what they said? Dragons don't speak any known language, I don't think they even _have_ a language-"

"They do, Dad, but that's not important, we need to-"

"Hold on a minute, son. How do you know what the dragons said?"

"I don't know, I just understand their language!" Hiccup said impatiently, shrugging his shoulders. "You're missing the point!"

"Where are they headed from?"

"There's a bunch of caves, about halfway between here and Tillamook," Davin said. "That's where they were, it's a few miles from Toothless and Réa's nest-" She stopped suddenly, her hand flying to her mouth as if to try to take back the horror of what she'd just said.

Stoick's frown deepened, his face growing suspicious. "Who are 'Toothless and Réa'?" he asked.

"N-no one," Davin squeaked, as Hiccup quickly said, "Just some…friends…"

"Enough!" Stoick shouted. "Every time Mirabelle or I ask the two of you a question about where you've been going or what you've been doing, all we get are some vague, evasive answers! It's time you started being completely honest with us. What have you been hiding? Who are these 'friends' of yours?"

Davin looked to Hiccup again, this time more afraid than uncertain. "They…well, they…" she began in a whisper, but faltered.

"They're Night Furies," Hiccup finished with a sigh.

The expression alone on Stoick's face, one of equal parts livid anger, embarrassment, and disappointment, would have made lesser men quake; when he spoke, the combination likely would have cause small children to cry.

"Jorgenson, send out a dragon raid alarm," he said coldly, and it was clear from his tone that he was to be neither disputed nor ignored. "Hofferson, gather everyone. You two." He pointed at the teenagers standing, mortified and, in Davin's case, a little frightened, before him. "In my office. _Now_."

They shuffled inside, trying not to pay attention to the looks of bewilderment and resentment thrown at them. Once they were sitting in the two chairs that were in front of Stoick's desk and the door was closed, Davin half-expected Stoick to let loose, raging and yelling at them. Hiccup, who had, on a couple of rare occasions, been the recipient of this particular brand of his father's wrath, knew better as to what to expect.

"Dad-" he began, hoping to diffuse some of his father's anger, but Stoick held up a hand, cutting him off.

"I didn't expect this of you, Hiccup," he said, and the cold disappointment in Stoick's voice, masked in a layer of fury, made Hiccup doubt that he'd ever seen his father angrier. "I knew you were never cut out to be a dragon hunter or a sheriff like me, but this…this is beyond anything I could have come up with in my wildest nightmares. Do you two know just how deeply you've betrayed this town? You've been fraternizing with the enemy!"

"They're not our enemies, Dad," Hiccup argued. "Not all dragons are bad, just like not all humans are good. Toothless and Réalta aren't bad dragons, and neither are the others-"

"There're more of them?" Stoick said in disbelieving anger.

"Not- not Night Furies, but more dragons."

Stoick shook his head. "You two are in some very deep trouble, you know that? You do realize that you may have led those dragons right to us."

Davin realized, with a sickening lurch in her stomach, that he had a point, but they'd been so concerned with getting to Berk as soon as possible that they hadn't thought to check if they were being followed.

"You two will _stay here_," Stoick told them, his voice weighted with authority. "I'll deal with you when I come back." With that, he stormed out of his office to join the rest of the gathering dragon-fighting force, the lock on the door clicking behind him.

Hiccup kicked the wall in frustration; Davin sat in her chair, her head in her hands. They sat there- for how long, she didn't know, as she couldn't bring herself to watch the clock, wondering who could be getting hurt or killed at that moment- as the evening faded into night and then early morning. When Davin had begun to get bleary-eyed and sleepy, she heard a quiet commotion outside of the door, as if a small group of people was gathered there and was trying very hard to be quiet. As she sat up straight and Hiccup turned around from where he'd been looking out the window, the tumblers in the lock clicked into place and the door swung open.

Standing there was a rather self-satisfied-looking Astrid Hofferson, stowing away what looked to be a lock-picking kit. With her was Fishlegs Ingerman and, to Davin's surprise, Snotlout Jorgenson and the Thorston twins, the latter three being the three people least likely to help either her or Hiccup. Then again, Ruffnut and Astrid were good friends, and Tuffnut was usually wherever Ruffnut was- if only to have ample opportunity to fight with his sister- and it was no great secret that Snotlout had a giant crush on Astrid. The tough blonde had probably threatened and/or coerced the three into coming.

"Astrid, how did you-" Davin began, but the blue-eyed blonde held up a hand.

"You don't want to know," Astrid warned the other, spectacled girl. "That's not important. The entire town's in uproar- those who haven't gone to try to stop the dragon attack are trying to protect whatever they have. Some of them have heard about you and those two Night Furies."

Davin paled. "Astrid, we-"

"Davin, it doesn't matter. I'm sure it's a lovely story, but it doesn't really matter either way for us. Now, did I hang my ass out to dry by breaking into a sheriff's office for nothing, or do we have a plan? What are we going to do to stop this?"

"Probably something stupid," Hiccup admitted with a smirk and a shrug.

"Sounds good, but you're already done that. Any more ideas?"

A light bulb seemed to go off in Davin's head, and her face brightened a little. "Then how about something crazy?" she offered.

"Great. Let's go, people, we'll walk and talk."

As Davin passed Ruffnut, she paused for a moment. Since the fight three and a half months before, neither had really spoken to the other, or intimated knowledge of the other's existence beyond anything but a glance. In light of the imminent danger, however, their issues with one another seemed petty, and the tall, gray-eyed blonde gave Davin a tight nod before whirling to catch up with Astrid.

"So what's the plan?" Astrid asked Davin as the curly, black-haired teen caught up to her.

Rather than answering, Davin looked over her shoulder at Hiccup, who seemed to be talking animatedly with Fishlegs- no doubt about the experience of seeing a dragon close-up and flying. "Hiccup, where did your dad keep those anti-dragon weapons?" she asked.

"It's a shed between my house and the police station," he answered. "Turn right up here."

After doing so, they found themselves at the aforementioned shed, which, for a shed, was extremely well-kept. Upon encountering a lock on the huge sliding doors, Astrid whipped out her lock picks and got to work, and Davin was filled with the hope that she never found herself on Astrid's bad side, or that if she did, she would have better than a lock between them. Once the door was open, Davin poked her head into the shed. "I don't think anybody's in here," she called over her shoulder.

"Are you sure?" Astrid asked.

"Fairly to pretty damn."

Deciding that that was a good enough answer, the other six followed Davin inside. Hiccup reached around on the wall and, finding a light switch, flipped it on. The lamps hanging from the ceiling flickered into dim life, but it was enough to illuminate what was there. Most of what the shed assuredly stored was gone- no doubt in the capable but deadly hands of Stoick and his fellow dragon fighters- but there were still assorted weaponry there, plenty for the seven of them to use. They armed themselves, then left the shed, relocking it before they left.

"Do any of you have some kind of all-terrain or off-road vehicle?" she asked them.

"I do, if my dad didn't take it," Snotlout said.

"How many does it seat?"

"Eight, if you squeeze."

"Good. We'll need to use it."

"Have you ever driven one?" he asked her.

"I know the basics. Besides, I'm the only one here who knows where we're going that can drive."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself. But if you crash it, I'm blaming you."

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Driving an ATV, especially one as big as the Jorgensons'- which was designed to take several burly police officers over _very_ rough terrain- was harder than Davin had thought. In fact, it was a lot harder, but there was no way she was going to admit defeat and let Snotlout drive. Ignoring the skeptical looks he shot her from the passenger seat- and the looks of slight terror on the others that she caught in the rear-view mirror, who seemed to be, at the moment, fearing for their lives- she worked the gear shift a lot harder than she ever did in her Mini Cooper and put the pedal to the metal, sacrificing comfort for speed.

"Davin, are you sure you know the way?" Hiccup asked her as he bounced around in his seat. "You don't usually drive."

"I know the way," she told him through gritted teeth, concentrating on not crashing the ATV into a tree or some such. "Just don't talk to me right now."

Shrugging and giving a worriedly frustrated Astrid a look that seemed to say "Nothing I can do," Hiccup settled back into his seat. They all sighed in relief when they reached the canyon- Davin might be a good driver, but driving over rough terrain was most definitely _not_ her forte. They got out and carefully followed the path down to the bottom, Hiccup leading the way.

When they reached the bottom, several of the dragons there, already on edge from the battle that they could feel, if not see or hear, hissed and growled in surprise at the five newcomers, especially armed with what the dragons knew to be weapons that were meant to kill their kind. It took five minutes- time better spent in the air, getting to the battlefield- to finally calm the agitated creatures down and convince them that the new five, despite their appearances, came in peace.

"Alright, saddle up," Davin told the others as she and Hiccup made their way over to Toothless and Réalta, who, for once, were not their usual excited selves, sensing the tense atmosphere. When she failed to hear sounds of movement, she turned to find that none of the five had moved.

"Let's get moving, people, chop chop!" she said. "What's the hold up?"

"Two things," Astrid answered. "One, none of us actually has a saddle-"

"Not technically necessary for flying," Hiccup pointed out.

"-And two, you can't just expect us to jump on a dragon and fly away!"

"Oh, grow _up_. It's not as hard as you make it out to be." To prove her point, she marched over, grabbed Snotlout by the elbow, and dragged him over to a Monstrous Nightmare who called herself Fireworm. They halted a few feet in front of her- as neither was stupid enough to confront one of the most vicious dragon species without a liberal measure of caution- and Davin held out a hand tentatively, hoping that Fireworm wouldn't bite her hand off- or, more importantly, Snotlout's- and prove her wrong.

Her fears were unfounded, though; the Nightmare, who was used to Davin by now, seemed to trust the girl, eyeballing Snotlout warily before placing her head underneath Davin's hand. Letting out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief, Davin carefully replaced her hand with Snotlout's; the action didn't seem to bother Fireworm, who continued staring at Snotlout, as if she was measuring him up- which, when Davin thought about it, she likely was.

The act seemed to satisfy the others somewhat; the twins tentatively made their way to an explosive- literally- Hideous Zippleback, who hadn't deigned to reveal its- their? Davin was never sure- name to either Davin or Hiccup; Fishlegs gingerly approached a Gronckle, who seemed to rather like him; and Astrid, a skeptic beat to her stride, came over to a Deadly Nadder named Stormfly. Once the others had settled themselves on their respective dragons, Davin and Hiccup gave each a length of rope to tie around their dragon's neck, so as to have something to hold on to. With that, Davin and Hiccup quickly mounted their Night Furies, strapped themselves in, and rocketed out of the canyon, the others following slightly unsteadily behind.

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**In my haste to post Chapter 7 as fast as possible, I realized that I overlooked one important thing that I had fully intended to note. The dragon species that I mentioned early on in the aforementioned chapter (Chapter 7), the Venomous Whiplash, is a dragon species of my own creation. Here's the description I came up with, the one that I pictured being in **_**The Dragon Book**_**, which, if you remember, is the book that Hiccup bought in Chapter 3:**

**_Equally exotic and dangerous, the Venomous Whiplash is one of the most elusive dragons known to our world. They are just as rare as their cousins, the Night Furies, partially due to hunting and partially due to the virulent nature of these dragons. They rarely come into contact with their own species except to mate, as Whiplashes will generally attack each other when confronted. They are solitary and reclusive, preferring to hunt and nest alone, and are highly distrustful of humans._**

**_Whiplashes are recognizable by their resemblance to their Fury cousins, although they have longer necks and snouts, and are usually of a hue anywhere from green to dark blue. The most identifiable trait of the Whiplash, however, is its eponymous venom, which it can spit out at high velocity, making it nearly impossible to dodge. The venom is highly toxic and should be treated as soon as possible. It is also the source of a Whiplash's fire: once lighted, it is no longer toxic, but the Whiplash's speed and accuracy in shooting out fireballs or venom is close to that of a Terrible Terror's. A Whiplash has a lifetime longer than that of most dragons. Like Night Furies, Whiplashes have a high wing-to-body ratio, and can fly for long periods of time. They are also faster than most dragons, although they do not have quite the speed and stamina of Night Furies._**

**_Venomous Whiplashes originated in the Black Sea region, but quickly spread to other areas in Europe, Asia, and North America. They were hunted in earlier centuries like many other dragons, but to a lesser extent due to their reclusive and cautious nature. To date, no cases of captivity have ever been recorded._**

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**Well, there you have it. And finally, a worthy mention of Astrid and co. I'm really disappointed at how minor a character that she, in particular, has become in this fanfic; I promise you, I didn't intend for that to happen. Hopefully in the sequel (oh yes, there will be a sequel) she'll become more important. But first, I have to finish writing this one. ^^;**

**As always, READ AND REVIEW!**

**Cheers.**

**~Rebel-Angel-Hero**

**P.S.: It will take me a very long time to write the next chapter, just telling you. However, the chapter after that (Chapter 10, which will be the last chapter) is already partially written (I do that sometimes), so hopefully that one will go faster. No promises, though.**


	9. This Makes Chaos Look Tidy

**I am so, so sorry for the inordinate amount of time this chapter has taken! Please forgive me. Hopefully this will satisfy you before you all hurt me. ^^;**

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Chapter Nine: This Makes Chaos Look Tidy

By now, of course, Hiccup and Davin were quite at home on dragons. It was the others who they had cause to worry about. Snotlout and Fishlegs seemed equally unsure about being so high up on a creature that was their traditional mortal enemy, while Ruffnut and Tuffnut seemed to be getting the hang of flying just fine, still fighting- even in midair- as their respective dragon heads attempted to pull them apart. Astrid, as always, was characteristically confident, having taken to Stormfly quite well. Keeping an eye on the others, Davin and Hiccup headed towards the dragon nest they had been escaping less than ten hours before, scouring the forest for a battle.

It wasn't hard to find. One large clearing towards the beach was covered in dragon fire, with the sounds of humans yelling, dragons snarling and shrieking, and guns firing echoing up, scaring away any wildlife in the vicinity. Toothless and Réalta led the dragons toward the commotion as the teenagers on their back grimly prepared their weapons- all people over the age of ten (in some families, over the age of seven) in Berk knew how to handle guns, being no strangers to dragon raids, and Davin had spend enough summers at her grandmother's place in upstate New York to be familiar with the basics of an anti-dragon gun- and steeled themselves for the battle ahead.

Hiccup strained his eyes, trying to find his father in the melee. Granted, Stoick was a very large man with hair as red as Hiccup's, but the battle below was so furious that it was still hard to pick the man out. Eventually Hiccup found him, holding his own quite well against a Whiptailed Vorpent (only slightly less deadly than its much smaller cousin, the Venomous Vorpent). Hiccup could tell, however, that his dad wasn't going to win the fight.

"Toothless, there," Hiccup said in Dragonese, pointing at the Vorpent. The Night Fury complained, but wheeled around, gaining altitude, then whipped back around and shrieked towards the Vorpent before unloading a bluish ball of fire onto the back of its head.

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Stoick Haddock was not a man who backed down from a fight easily, and he was well known for his "no surrender," "victory or death" attitude when it came to dragons. Of course, before now, it had been somewhat figurative; while Stoick, having lost a sister, an uncle and aunt, and two cousins in the dragon attack thirty years before, was all too aware of the dangers of dragons, the bubble of the perception of infallibility that often surrounded teenage boys had managed to surround Stoick as well. But in this particular battle, despite his heart telling him to fight to the last, his head was telling him to cut his losses and get the hell out of dodge.

A high-pitched, ballistic whistle pierced the air, and Stoick's stomach dropped a little when he recognized it- the trademark sound of a Night Fury attack. Even with the battle raging, shouts still rang out calling "Night Fury!" "Get down!"

The Whiptailed Vorpent Stoick was fighting, however, ducked its head a little too late, and a blue-orange missile exploded on its head. The Vorpent gave a little shriek of pain and fury before collapsing, not moving again.

Stoick looked up in shock to see his son astride a pitch-black Night Fury, who landed next to him in the suddenly open space in the clearing. "Dad, are you alright?" Hiccup yelled.

Stoick was still a little too dumbfounded to say anything, and before he could form a sentence, another lightning-fast black form swooped overhead.

"Hiccup!" Davin McLaughlin yelled from aboard another Night Fury, this one a more bluish color. "Stop messing around down there and get up here and help us!"

A small flock of dragons then came flying into the clearing. Stoick recognized his nephew atop a Monstrous Nightmare- which somehow didn't surprise him- and the Hofferson girl on what looked to be a Deadly Nadder, the Thorston twins riding a Hideous Zippleback in tandem, and Fishlegs Ingerman shakily attempting to control a Gronckle- which also didn't surprise him, because while the kid knew quite a lot of theory when it came to dragons, he didn't seem like he'd handle the practical experience as well.

"Right!" Hiccup called back. He and the Night Fury made to take off, but Stoick stopped him. "Wait," he said, running over. Hiccup paused, and Stoick laid a large hand on his son's shoulder- at least, as far up as he could reach, which was Hiccup's upper arm. "I'm sorry," he said quickly- as Stoick Haddock was not a man who usually apologized- and Hiccup seemed to sit in shock for a moment, likely at hearing his father say the words "I'm sorry."

"I should have listened -" Stoick continued, but Hiccup, recovered from his brief astonishment, cut him off.

"This isn't really the best place have this discussion, Dad," Hiccup said. "But I'd be happy to talk later."

Stoick nodded, remembering that they were, in fact, in the middle of a heated battle. "I'm…proud of you, son," he said, and it occurred to him how infrequently he said that to his only child.

Hiccup swallowed. "Thanks, Dad," he said honestly, then grabbed onto the saddle on which he sat and leaned over. "Let's go, Toothless," he said to the Night Fury, and the dragon shot off into the sky to join its counterparts in the battle.

Stoick watched them go for a minute, then turned and found an opponent to fight. He had some dragon heads to bash.

* * *

Even with the help of the teenagers and their dragons, the battle was still not going very well. No matter how many dragons Davin fought off, there always seemed to be more. And Réa was getting tired; although Davin had no idea what a Night Fury's shot limit was, she had a feeling that they were reaching it soon.

Davin knocked off another shot at a Deadly Nadder- not Astrid's- which took the bullet to its back leg. It whirled about and, once it found its attacker, launched itself at Réalta with a furious shriek. Davin, anticipating the clash, lashed her gun to the saddle, slid her hands through two loops at the horn of the saddle, and held on tightly as Réa flew upwards a little, wheeled around, and shot back down at the Nadder to hit it at a terrifyingly fast speed. Luckily Davin had braced herself, having already experienced the painful whiplash, and wasn't jarred too badly at the impact. She knew better than to try to interfere in a dragon battle- Réa and the Nadder would rip each other up just fine without her help.

Unfortunately, Davin could feel Réalta tiring, and the Nadder wasn't, so to try to cut the fight short, she jimmied the gun out of its makeshift holster and aimed at the Nadder's shoulder. Of course, being shook about didn't help her aim, and she ended up missing, grazing the Nadder on the side of its head. It howled and broke away for a moment, and without the jerking motion, she got a clean shot and hit the base of its wing, tearing a hole. She didn't want to kill it, just make sure that it couldn't fight anymore- after all, it was going to attack and/or destroy her town.

A shadow passing over her head made Davin look up. Her jaw dropped when she saw what was above her: tens of dragons from Toothless and Réalta's nest swooped in above her, throwing themselves into the melee with full vigor. She heard a whoop come from somewhere off to her left; whether it was one of her friends or one of the dragon fighters of Berk, she wasn't quite sure. But just when it seemed that the humans were going to be beaten badly, the battle turned like a snap. Suddenly the invading dragons began fleeing all over, seemingly realizing that the battle was _not_ going their way.

Davin looked around for Hiccup, checking to see that he was okay. After a minute's searching while simultaneously avoiding the fireballs that went streaming past her, she found him and Toothless on the other side of the clearing, engaged in a fight with a particularly vicious-looking Volcano dragon (an unimaginative name, to be sure, but as the creatures _were_ born in the depths of the fiery pits, rather fitting as well). However, the pair seemed to be holding their own fairly well, so Davin turned her attention instead to the Windwalker dragon barreling towards her. She pulled out her gun and aimed carefully at the Windwalker's right foreleg, but a sudden swerve by Réalta to avoid an incoming fiery missile made her miss. Not having had the time to secure her weapon, when the Windwalker dragon impacted the Night Fury and its rider, the gun was knocked out of her hand by the collision. Davin watched it fall to earth for one terrifying second before she held onto the saddle for dear life as Réalta ripped herself away from the Windwalker and flew away in a tight corkscrew spin, making her rider dizzy. The Windwalker gave chase, but Réa was ready this time, and as Davin regained her sense of up and down, the midnight blue dragon let loose a gooey, bluish ball of flame that hit the Windwalker square in the chest. It fell away, howling in pain and rage, and Davin sighed in relief when she found that her scaled friend wasn't too badly injured.

She looked about to check on her companions, all of whom seemed to be doing fine, and her eyes fell on Hiccup just as a fireball exploded on the left side of his saddle. She only registered seeing him fall, and seeing Toothless dive after him, before she yelled Réalta towards them; whether to help, or just to beat the living hell out of the offending dragon, she didn't know. Unfortunately, they only crossed about ten yards in the air before something- a tail, she belatedly guessed- whipped out of nowhere towards her face, and suddenly the side of her head exploded in pain. She saw stars briefly and groggily half-registered Réalta's guttural roar of rage before darkness fell.

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**Holy crap, this chapter kicked my butt! I am SOOO sorry that it has taken me this long, and my lame excuses of being busy with schoolwork somehow don't seem enough. But thank you to all of you who still want to read my stuff, and thank you to all of the lovely people who signed on to this boat during the interim. Seriously, I write these chapters for you guys. Well, for myself, too, but mostly for you guys. You are all so awesome! :)**

**Well, Chapter 10 will hopefully be finished in less than two and a half months this time around. I've got three more weeks of torture (read: school) before my winter break, so if I don't get it out before December 17th, you can expect it in the following two weeks. Chapter 10 will be the last chapter, but never fear! I will have a sequel for you, it's already in the works. But there are some other things I would like to do before the sequel, currently titled **_**The Sum of All Fears**_** (bit of a teaser for you there, if you want an idea as to what the story will be like, I suggest you find out what the Tom Clancy book of the same name is about), such as the sequel to my Meet the Robinsons fanfic, **_**I'd Rather Be Different**_**.**

**On another note, I saw **_**Tangled**_** on Saturday, and I am officially a fangirl. :D**

**Reviews are love.**

**Cheers,**

**~Rebel-Angel-Hero**

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**By the way, as for the three dragon types mentioned in the chapter- the Whiptailed Vorpent, the Volcano dragon, and the Windwalker- the latter two were taken from the books, and the first one was somewhat derived from the books.**

**- The Venomous Vorpent (the "smaller cousin" to the Whiptailed Vorpent) is a highly poisonous dragon; the only cure to its venom is a potato (which in Viking times were rare in the Barbaric Archipelago, so you were pretty much screwed in those days). The Whiptailed Vorpent is like that, but much bigger and slightly more dangerous.**

**- The Volcano dragon is the Fire dragon that hatches from the Firestone in **_**How to Twist a Dragon's Tale**_**.**

**- The Windwalker dragon is the dragon that becomes Hiccup's riding dragon, also in **_**How to Twist a Dragon's Tale**_**. In this case I can't quite remember if "Windwalker" is the name of the dragon breed or the actual dragon, but I am using it here to refer to the dragon breed.**


	10. Coming Back Around

**Here it is, folks. It's been an interesting ride, but the final chapter is here. I'll do all of the talking in the author's notes at the bottom, so enjoy!**

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Chapter Ten: Coming Back Around

The first thing that hit Davin was the fact that she was suspiciously warm and comfortable, which told her that she was very likely not dead, and probably not even still in that clearing.

The second thing that hit her was the throbbing pain- the kind that was just bad enough to notice, but not to do anything about- in her left arm. The pain in her head was a lot worse- dear God, did she have a headache.

As her eyes flickered open, the oppressive white light that came from fluorescent bulbs made her eyes, used to the dark for so long, hurt at first. She squinted and craned her neck forward a little.

Just as she'd suspected, she was in a hospital room- hence the utter whiteness of everything. There was an IV connected to her right arm, a fact that, had she been fully conscious, would have freaked her out- she didn't really like needles, especially when they were stuck in her. Her left arm was in a thick, bulky cast, something that, again, had she been fully conscious, would have instead made her say words that would shock even her uncle, who was a sailor and swore like one. Her mother sat at her bedside, reading a book- a book that she recognized as one of those sappy romance novels she and her mother delighted in mocking.

"I thought you said you'd never pick up one of those things," she croaked in a voice unused for- well, she didn't really know how long. Her mother started and set the book aside, taking her daughter's unencumbered hand.

"It was all there was to read," she explained, obviously not caring about the book anymore. "How do you feel, honey?"

"Well, my arm feels weird in this cast and it kind of hurts, and my head really hurts, and I've got a needle stuck in my arm, but other than that, relatively okay. How long have I been out?"

"Two days. You have a broken arm, two cracked ribs, and a concussion, a fairly bad one. The doctors say that judging by the height you fell from, something must have broken your fall, because you've gotten off very lightly."

A thought flashed across Davin's bruised and tired brain. "How's Hiccup?" she asked worriedly.

"He's a little worse off than you, but the doctors say he'll be fine as well. He's got a concussion too- a little less serious than yours- a fractured leg, and a broken foot. He's also got some burns, but they're fairly minor. He must have landed badly on his left side, because most of the injuries are on that side."

Davin fell back onto her pillows, relieved that Hiccup was okay. A second thought flew through her mind, and she jerked upright again, regretting when her head swam. "What about Toothless and Réalta? The Night Furies?"

"They're both alright as well," Mirabelle assured her daughter.

Davin fell back again. Then her brow furrowed. "How do you know?"

"They're camped out near our house, dear. Nothing anyone did would make them move."

"No one hurt them, right?"

"No, of course not." Mirabelle scooted her chair closer. "Things in Berk are a little different, dear. You'll see when you get out of the hospital."

Davin was confused as to what her mother meant, but right then her head hurt too much to dwell on it very long.

* * *

"Davin, could you come here a minute?" her mother called. Davin, who had been working on writing with her right hand, set her stuff down and went downstairs, taking the stairs carefully. Her mother sat at the table, hands clasped together, with a serious expression on her face.

"I wanted to discuss something with you," Mirabelle began once Davin sat down. "I talked with your father while you were in the hospital. And we both decided that we've been deciding too many things for you. You're not just my little girl anymore- you've grown up a lot. I realized that after everything that happened. And you're right, we have been making decisions that affect you without asking your input. So I wanted to talk with you about this first."

"Wow," Davin said, a little surprised. "Thanks, Mom. So what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I know that you weren't very…happy with the move. While I was talking with your father, we discussed whether it would be better if you went back to live with your father in D.C. Now, I'd like it if you finished the year in Berk, but once summer starts, if you'd like to-"

"Actually, Mom," Davin interrupted, "I…well, I want to stay in Berk."

Mirabelle raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

"Yeah. I mean, I know I didn't really like it when I first got here, but it's kind of grown on me. It may snow nine months of the year and hail the other three, but it's not so bad a place. And it's got one thing that D.C. doesn't really have."

"And what might that be?"

Davin grinned. "Dragons, of course."

Mirabelle laughed. "That is true, of course. Well, if that's what you want, I'll tell your father. You'll spend the summers in D.C., though?"

"Of course. I wouldn't want Dad to get lonely. He can barely function without a woman in the house." They both had a good laugh at that.

Davin stood up. "Well, I should get back to working on writing with my right hand. Hiccup's been writing notes for me in class, but his handwriting's kind of hard to read."

Mirabelle caught her daughter's uninjured arm on her way past. "I really do appreciate that you've given Berk a chance, dear. It's a small town, but it's a nice place. Besides, we'll need all the help we can get getting acclimated to not killing dragons anymore."

"Yeah," Davin agreed. She gave her mother a one-armed hug, then trotted back up the stairs.

* * *

The response at school hadn't been any worse than either Davin or Hiccup had expected. Everyone now knew about their friendship with the Night Furies, but in light of recent events, the crime was far less condemning. Some would likely always see friendship with dragons the epitome of sin. To their surprise, however, there were some at the high school who must have been closet dragon sympathizers, and could now step into the light with their beliefs now that Berk was beginning to come around in its general feelings towards dragons. Most people, however, didn't bother the pair much, although they were treated with a new attitude that was less contempt and more awe. A lot of people gawked at their injuries, which in Hiccup's case were enough to relegate him to a wheelchair, since his left leg and foot were entirely useless at the moment. Davin mainly used his wheelchair as a rack on which to hang her bag, since with her cast and arm brace (in order to prevent her already fragile ribs from breaking again), it was anywhere from difficult to impossible to carry her backpack without causing herself bodily pain. Hiccup didn't mind as long as it didn't cause him to tip over (which had happened once).

The biggest change in Davin's school life that she noticed- and the one she liked the most- was the addition of five new friends to her repertoire. She found that she liked Astrid and Ruffnut quite a lot, who, despite their tough girl, bad ass, slightly delinquent-ish exterior, were actually pretty nice. Besides, if, among the three, conversation failed, they could always come back to the ultimate discussion: between Ruffnut and Astrid, who was the better shot with an axe?

* * *

Almost as soon as she got her cast and arm brace off, Davin was out the door and running around to the back of the house, where Réalta had taken up residence.

"Hey, girl," she called, and the midnight-blue Night Fury's head darted up. Seeing the absence of the strange thing on her human's arm which she'd had to be careful of, the dragon bounded over and nearly broke the girl's arm again in her exuberance.

"Whoa! Hey, Réa, just because I got my cast off doesn't mean you don't still have to be gentle," Davin protested somewhat futilely. "I'm still healing."

Réalta huffed a little and reluctantly sat back, allowing the girl to sit up. "Thank you. Now, the doctor said that I shouldn't do anything strenuous with my arm yet, but that as long as we're _careful_-" She made sure to emphasize the word. "-I can fly again."

The Night Fury liked the sound of that, and she sprang to her feet, leaping in circles while she waited for her human to gingerly get to her feet. Davin got her saddle from where her mother had put it in the back shed and cinched it onto the dragon, then cautiously swung herself on, making sure that she was buckled in and strapped down. "Okay. Let's go. _Gently_."

For once Réalta did as she was told, taking off smoothly and gliding over the forest at the edge of town. Davin smiled happily as the wind brushed past her face. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed flying until she got into the air. It was truly what she'd been born for.

A shadow passed above them, and for a second, Davin flashed back to the clearing, imagining a dragon coming in for an attack. But the absence of a cacophonic din, the smell of things burning, and any other dragons brought her back to reality, and she looked up to see a very familiar Night Fury above her.

She rolled her eyes as Hiccup and Toothless leveled out next to her. "You should definitely not be flying," she scolded, though she ruined the effect by grinning a little. "Your leg isn't even really healed."

"We're being careful," Hiccup defended. "Same as you. Besides, I knew you'd be up today."

"How?"

"I know you," he said simply.

She laughed. "Yeah, for five months. That hardly qualifies you to know me inside and out." She paused. "I can't really believe it's only been five months since I came to Berk."

"Me either," he said honestly. "I would be willing to bet this is probably one of the more interesting semesters you've had."

"I think you'd win that bet." They flew in silence for a minute before Hiccup spoke up again. "Let's go to the cliff again," he suggested.

Davin smiled. "Okay. I haven't been there in weeks."

They angled their respective dragons towards the agreed upon destination. The trip was silent, but not uncomfortably so; both were simply enjoying being able to fly for the first time in almost a month and a half. Hiccup looked over at Davin and couldn't help but smile at the blissful expression on her face as she sat back in the saddle, eyes closed.

When they reached the cliff, Davin slid off of Réa's back straight to the ground, settling herself as Réa curled up around her. Hiccup and Toothless sat in a similar arrangement, and, again, for a minute or two, no words were spoken.

"I heard that you're going back to Washington," Hiccup said, and Davin could tell that he wasn't happy about the news.

"Well, yeah. My mom offered to let me go back permanently."

"I understand. I mean, all of your friends are back on the East Coast. You must hate being far away from home."

Davin gave him a slightly confused look, feeling that something had gotten lost in the translation. "Yes, but I've got new friends here in Berk, too." Realization dawned on her. "Oh. You thought I was moving back permanently?"

"You aren't?" Hiccup asked, surprised.

"No. When my mom asked if I wanted to go back to D.C., I realized that I'd really come to consider Berk as my home. I'll go to visit my dad during summers, but I'm spending the school years in Berk. Besides, if I went back to D.C., I'd probably have to leave Réa behind, and I could never do that." The aforementioned dragon nuzzled the girl, obviously appreciative of the sentiment.

"Oh," Hiccup said in a much happier tone. "Well. That's good. I wouldn't want to have no one to talk to at lunch."

"That's it?" Davin prodded.

"Well…I'd miss you," he admitted.

"I'd miss you too." They sat in silence again.

"Why didn't you like me when you first moved here?" Hiccup asked suddenly. The blunt question took Davin off guard.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I guess…I was going through a difficult patch in life. I had no intention of staying in Berk longer than I had to- as soon as I got my high school diploma, I would be packing my things and leaving. I didn't want any reason to stay, and…you were one."

"What do you mean?"

"You reminded me too much of…well, me. You're the kind of kid I make friends with easily, because we know where each other is coming from. And being friends with you threw a wrench in my plans to leave as soon as I graduated. Of course, that wrench ended up getting thrown anyways."

"Yeah. And admit it, Berk grows on you."

"It does," she agreed. "So don't worry, I'll be back in August."

"That's good. I'd hate to be stuck talking to the others all the time without some kind of intermediary."

"So I'm demoted to intermediary now?"

"No. You're my friend."

"Good. You're my friend, too." They smiled at each other and took the other's hand. It wasn't romantic, or anything- just two friends linked together, with their own scaly friend wrapped around them as all four watched the day fade spectacularly into night.

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**Whew! Well, I told you that this chapter would go faster than Chapter 9, which was an ugly beast to write. But we've finally reached the end. I hope that last bit wasn't bad, I went over it _sooo_ many times in my head, and that was what I liked best.**

**A big thank you to my wonderful, lovely sister (you're my first BFF!) who helped me on the plot when I got stuck. And a huge, ginormous thank you to all of you readers, especially those of you who have reviewed. I wrote this for you, and it's a very good feeling to know that my work is appreciated. You have no idea how excited I get when I get an email saying that I've got a review!**

**Be on the lookout in the future for the upcoming sequel to _Opposites Attract_, titled _The Sum of All Fears_. That one will be a very interesting monster to write. However, there are some other things I'd like to finish before starting that, so it's not happening soon. But definitely within the near future.**

**Here are the copyrights:**

_**How to Train Your Dragon**_** is (c) Dreamworks and Cressida Cowell, without whose brilliant series this story would not be here.**

**All else, including original characters and dragon species (unless otherwise specified) are (c) me. Please notify me and credit me if you wish to use them.**

**As always, reviews are love. Thank you all!**

**Cheers.**

**~Rebel-Angel-Hero**


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